WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE A CATHOLIC TODAY? 1. What is the point of being a Christian? Why be Christian? There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. (John 1:6-9). 2. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.(matt 7:21). 3. If christianity is true, then it does not have any point other than to point to God who is the point of every thing. (Timothy Radcliffe). Every person who is baptized into the Catholic Church bears the same awesome responsibility of the Baptizer himself: to be a witness to the Light. For indeed the Light has come into the world: Christ, the Son of God! Our task as witnesses to Christ is complicated in an age filled with temptations toward ourselves and material desires. Much of the advertising and entertainment in our culture attempts to persuade us that our earthly life is all there is, so we should pursue the pleasures and successes of this world. The concept of heaven is ridiculed, and the idea of sin is dismissed as archaic. A Catholic is a special kind of Christian. There are also Lutheran Christians, Methodist Christians, Baptist Christians, Church of England etc. The term Christian refers mainly to the two inner aspects of faith; that is personally experienced faith by you and day-by-day faith of the Christian community. The term Catholic comes from the Greek word that means universal. The term Catholic Church refers to the Christian community that is open to all people everywhere and in all ages and that preaches the fullness of God s revelation in Christ. TRADITIONAL DISTINCTIVE MARKS OF CATHOLICISM. 1. One 2. Holy 3. Catholic 4. Apostolic FUNDAMENTAL EXPRESSION OF THE FOUR MARKS TODAY 1. To be catholic today is to have an enduring friendship with Jesus. A friendship that is built and rooted in knowing Jesus deeply from the Bible and life encounters. Ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ (St.Jerome). radical self giving and life-transforming relationship. The Bible is alive and must be read in a living community. 2. To be catholic is to affirm divine revelation and to accepts it authority, even as it is taught by the church. Our coultures says: Maturity is doing it my way; DIY, by the order of my imperial autonomous self. But truth is doing it God s way: Jesus is the way, the truth and the life (Jn14:6). Believing that truth as the church teaches. 1
3. To be catholic today is to celebrate the seven sacraments as unique and divinely given means of sanctifying our life. Grace is the essence of the sacraments and divine encounter is the privileged experience. 4. To be catholic today imply a response to the call to constant conversion of life; a rejection of evil and sin and an active participation in the works of service and charity. A life of growth in the beatitudes (Matt 5: 1-14). The sacrament of reconciliation is key. 5. To be catholic today implies embracing the church s liturgy as the heart of the encounter with God and God s family. Receiving and participating in the ancient traditions of the Church and open to the authentic renewal of the liturgy according to Vatican II. These questions readily comes to mind: What happened to the stations of the Cross? What has become of Sacred Heart Devotions? What about the Rosary and rosary processions? Why are there no more Eucharistic processions? These are means of worshiping Jesus and entering into friendship with Him. So that we can leave our liturgy charged with power and become mission-driven. 6. Today s catholics identity is a Biblically centred form; he/she reads the Bible as the Word of God for the salvation of Souls. What has become of the Bible Classes? Bible Sharing groups and Bible quoting and bible singing community of faith? Our languages should be informed by the Word of God. Nowaday, languages are more readily informed by media, politics and entertainment. Life based on the bible is an intense and immediate life in God. There is a profound distrust for the Bible in the develop world. Be Bible informed and bible driven, if you want your Christian life to be deeply catholic. 7. To be catholic is to acknoweldeg that the Church is hierachically ordered and the variety of vocations are respected and served. Authority is not a psychological hangover nor a means of control but a means of service: God knows me and calls me by my name. God has created me to do Him some definite service (Bl John Henry Newmn). We are living re-presentaion of God. 8. The identity of catholic today must be culture-forming and counter-cultural. We are citizens of two worlds; the way will live here will determine where we go next. Healing the world and its brokenness and luring it to a deep conversion. 9. The catholic today must be seen to enter into the public square armed with the voice of reason, solidly grounded in the Gospel convictions. The bible, the community and our prayer lives gives us the confident grammar to participate fruitfully in the public square debates. There are words and phrases in the christian culture that are irreplaceable. Courage in the tempest toast boat of the Church in the perilous seas of our time (Matt 8: 23-27, 14:27). 10. The final expression of the mark of the distinclty catholic is the anticpation and eager expectation of the Second coming of Jesus; our mission is to be prepared, prepare others and point them to the Risen Christ. GOD HAS CREATED ME TO DO HIM SOME DEFINITE SERVICE God knows me and calls me by my name. God has created me to do Him some definite service; He has committed some work to me 2
which He has not committed to another. I have my mission I never may know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next. Somehow I am necessary for His purposes I have a part in this great work; I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good, I shall do His work; I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while not intending it, if I do but keep His commandments and serve Him in my calling. Therefore I will trust Him. Whatever, wherever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him; In perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him; If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. My sickness, or perplexity, or sorrow may be necessary causes of some great end, which is quite beyond us. He does nothing in vain; He may prolong my life, He may shorten it; He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends, He may throw me among strangers, He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me still He knows what He is about. Let me be Thy blind instrument. I ask not to see I ask not to know I ask simply to be used. CATHOLIC IDENTITTY BY SPIRITUALITY Am a I good person? What is the meaning of the world around me? Spirituality - this term signifies an itinerary for growth in our friendship with Christ. This itinerary has as its final destination what we call holiness, an individual s firm, deep, integral, and dynamic communion with God. We call this itinerary because we achieve communion with God through the purifying of our spiritual faculties (intelligence and will) and aligning them with the wisdom and will of God. Our will, the capacity of self-determination which allows us to make self-aware choices and Our intelligence, our capacity to perceive and understand truth in a self-conscious were severely weakened by original sin, personal sin, and the evil tendencies of the world around us. Growth in the spiritual life gradually heals and strengthens our will, 3
so that we emerge out of self-centered and self-indulgent habits into virtuous living. Virtues are those good habits of the will that enable us to choose what is truly good and right in any circumstance, even at great immediate cost to ourselves. These four pathways can help people understand their own better. Yet it is important to remember that all people have all four tendencies to some degree just as most hands of cards contain all four suits but it makes sense to lead with the suit that is strongest. Also, some have strength in more than one path. Path 1: The path of intellect Those who journey on this first pathway primarily use their rational powers in their quest for God. They are comfortable using a discursive prayer method that focuses on the desire to understand, think through, clarify, envision, and thereby manage the realities of life. This prayer starts but doesn t stay at the intellectual level, moving the individual into action. Role models: Saints Thomas Aquinas and Teresa of Avila. Path 2: The path of devotion The essential element of this is experiencing a personal relationship with God. People on this path read between the lines and catch the inexpressible, the spiritual, the hidden meanings; they best understand symbols and their use in liturgy. This path concentrates on meditations that access the feelings and expand the ability to relate to, care about, and love others. They prefer unstructured meditations to develop the capacity to love and to be in relationship with God, others, and self. Role models: Saints Augustine of Hippo and Margaret Alacoque. Path 3: The path of service This is the pathway of faith in action. It is Mother Teresa embracing the poor and dying in Calcutta. Those who travel this path must be free, unconfined, and able to do whatever their inner spirit moves them to do; they are impulsive and don t like to be tied down by rules. In prayers they respond to the events of Jesus life rather than to his teachings. Role models: Saints Francis of Assisi and Therese of Lisieux. Path 4: The path of asceticism This path emphasizes structure, tradition, and discipline. Sometimes called the path of discipline, it is less a path of self-denial than one of detachment or purification. In prayer, those on the path of discipline project themselves back into a scene by use of their sensing imagination. By becoming a real part of the event, they draw some practical application for today. Role models: St. Ignatius of Loyola and Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton The awareness of different pathways to deepen your spiritual life can be quite liberating. Knowing our preferred pathways can help us realize where our personal gifts and challenges are, and how we each need to develop spiritually. Just as important, we can begin to appreciate that others will be drawn along other very different pathways. Yet all four journeys have the same ultimate destination. 4
THE ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF CATHOLIC SPIRITUALITY The essential elements of any Catholic can be understood as those activities within our reach that are ordinarily necessary for moving us forward along that road to spiritual maturity. Most spiritual writers would agree that the following items ought to be on that list. But here is a warning: this list is not like a shopping list. Catholic, remember, is about our relationship with God communion with God through friendship with Christ. So it can t be reduced to a to-do list. Nevertheless, since that relationship takes place in the arena of faith, we need some concrete reference points to help us keep moving along. All of the following items, therefore, should be considered within the context of that relationship, that friendship with Christ, in the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God the Father: Active and frequent participation in the sacraments, most especially the Mass (along with Holy Communion) and Confession Active participation in the liturgical seasons Personal and family vocal prayer Personal mental prayer Ongoing study of the Catholic faith Ongoing support for the Church s work of evangelization (this can take many forms) Obedience to the basic moral law (summarized in the Ten Commandments) and to the teaching of the Magisterium Obedience to the duties of one s state in life Filial devotion to Mary and the Saints Some practice of self-denial (ascesis) Gradually learning to accept and value suffering (love for our crosses as ways to unite us to Christ s cross) THE DIVERSE SPIRITUALITIES Catholic devotional piety Desert Monastic orders Post-Vatican II lay movements Marian devotions. Sacred Heart Holy Places SVP Jesus Prayer Desert Fathers Benedictine Franciscan Dominican Ignatian Montfortian Opus Dei Charismatic Schoenstatt Movement 5
Carmelite Redemptorist Focolare Movement Sant'Egidio movement Servite The different spiritualities (Ignatian, Carmelite, Franciscan ) that have arisen and continue to arise in the Church share all of those elements, but each puts a particular emphasis or a unique spin on one or more element. CONSULTED MATERIALS AND EXCEPTS 1. The New Jerusalem Bible 2. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 3. Weigel, G. (2014). Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church. Basic Books. 4. Kelly, M. (2002). Rediscovering Catholicism: Journeying Toward Our Spiritual North Star Author: Matthew Kelly, Publisher: Beacon Publishing. 5. Newman, J. H. (2008). Apologia Pro Vita Sua and Six Sermons. Yale University Press. 6. Radcliffe, T. (2005). What is the Point of Being a Christian?. Bloomsbury Publishing. 7. Roger O Brien, R (2005) 4 spiritual paths, which is best for you?,u.s. Catholic magazine. Fr. Michael Achile Umameh Sacred Heart Parish, Hillsborough. 6